When planning a medical procedure, for example a hair transplantation procedure, it is beneficial for both the patient and the physician to have a realistic simulation, for example, of the portion of the head where the procedure is intended to be performed as well as the outcome of such procedure.
Various approaches have been proposed for 3D modeling for virtual characters in video games, movies and animations. However, such approaches and techniques are labor intensive, time consuming and not necessarily suitable in other applications, such as hair simulation for medical purposes and other applications. On the other hand, in medical applications, the options available for patients to see a realistic representation of what they may look like once they have a procedure performed, are somewhat limited, particularly in terms of medical treatments and procedures, including those related to hair restoration. Using hair restoration as an example, no matter what type of hair restoration process or hair transplant procedure is adopted, whether it is a chemical or drug application or treatment, or if it is a surgical hair transplantation, such as a strip procedure, a manual follicular unit extraction (FUE) procedure or robotic FUE process, it would aid both the physician and the patient if the patient could be provided with a realistic representation of the area where procedure to be performed and the post-procedure or post-treatment appearance. Simulations of what a patient would look like after a product has been applied or procedure has been performed would not only assist the physician in explaining to their patients what the procedure could offer them and what their “new” head of hair would look like, but would also help the patient decide if the procedure is the right one for them. Therefore, there is a need for continued improvements in hair modeling and simulation methods and systems, especially those useful for hair simulation and rendering in planning medical and cosmetic treatments and procedures.
Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,806,121 and 8,104,480 (collectively, “Bodduluri”) illustrate systems and methods for planning transplantation of follicular units into a body surface of the patient. The entire disclosures of both above-identified U.S. patents are incorporated by reference.